Section 701.52.18. Historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit for projects with Part 2 applications approved and tax credits reserved prior to July 1, 2014.

 A historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit, subject to the availability of the credit, may be claimed against a taxpayer’s Iowa corporate income tax liability for 25 percent of the qualified costs of rehabilitation of property to the extent the costs were incurred on or after July 1, 2000, for the approved rehabilitation projects of eligible property in Iowa.

The general assembly has mandated that the department of cultural affairs and the department of revenue adopt rules to jointly administer Iowa Code chapter 404A. 2014 Iowa Acts, House File 2453, amended the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit program effective July 1, 2014. The department of revenue’s provisions for projects with tax credits reserved prior to July 1, 2014, are found in this rule. The department of revenue’s provisions for projects with agreements entered into on or after July 1, 2014, are found in rule 701—52.47(404A,422). The department of cultural affairs’ rules related to this program may be found at 223—Chapter 48. Division I of 223—Chapter 48 applies to projects with reservations approved prior to July 1, 2014. Division II of 223—Chapter 48 applies to projects with agreements entered into on or after July 1, 2014.

Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, the department of cultural affairs shall not reserve tax credits under 2013 Iowa Code chapter 404A as amended by 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 112, section 1, for applicants that do not have an approved Part 2 application and a tax credit reservation on or before June 30, 2014. Projects with approved Part 2 applications and provisional tax credit reservations on or before June 30, 2014, shall be governed by 2013 Iowa Code chapter 404A as amended by 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 112, section 1; by 223—Chapter 48, Division I; and by rule 701—52.18(404A,422). Projects for which Part 2 applications were approved and agreements entered into after June 30, 2014, shall be governed by 2014 Iowa Acts, House File 2453; by 223—Chapter 48, Division II; and by rule 701—52.47(404A,422).

         52.18(1) Eligible property for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit. The following types of property are eligible for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit:

            a.                Property verified as listed on the National Register of Historic Places or eligible for such listing.

            b.                Property designated as of historic significance to a district listed in the National Register of Historic Places or eligible for such designation.

            c.                Property or district designated a local landmark by a city or county ordinance.

            d.                Any barn constructed prior to 1937.

         52.18(2) Application and review process for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit.

            a.                Taxpayers who want to claim an income tax credit for completing a historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district project must submit an application for approval of the project. The application forms for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit may be requested from the State Tax Credit Program Manager, State Historic Preservation Office, Department of Cultural Affairs, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0290. The telephone number for this office is [phone]. Applications for the credit will be accepted by the state historic preservation office on or after July 1, 2000, until such time as all the available credits allocated for each fiscal year are encumbered.

            b.                Applicants for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit must include all information and documentation requested on the application forms for the credit in order for the applications to be processed.

         52.18(3) Computation of the amount of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit. The amount of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit is 25 percent of the qualified rehabilitation costs made to eligible property in a project. Qualified rehabilitation costs are those rehabilitation costs approved by the state historic preservation office for a project for a particular taxpayer to the extent those rehabilitation costs are actually expended by that taxpayer.

            a.                In the case of commercial property, qualified rehabilitation costs must equal at least $50,000 or 50 percent of the assessed value of the property, excluding the value of the land, prior to rehabilitation, whichever is less. In the case of property other than commercial property, the qualified rehabilitation costs must equal at least $25,000 or 25 percent of the assessed value, excluding the value of the land, prior to the rehabilitation, whichever amount is less.

            b.                In computing the tax credit, the only costs which may be included are the qualified rehabilitation costs incurred commencing from the date on which the first qualified rehabilitation cost is incurred and ending with the end of the taxable year in which the property is placed in service. The rehabilitation period may include dates that precede approval of a project, provided that any qualified rehabilitation costs incurred prior to the date of approval of the project must be qualified rehabilitation costs.

            c.                For purposes of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit, qualified rehabilitation costs include those costs properly included in the basis of the eligible property for income tax purposes. Costs treated as expenses and deducted in the year paid or incurred and amounts that are otherwise not added to the basis of the property for income tax purposes are not qualified rehabilitation costs. Amounts incurred for architectural and engineering fees, site survey fees, legal expenses, insurance premiums, development fees, and other construction-related costs are qualified rehabilitation costs to the extent they are added to the basis of the eligible property for tax purposes. Costs of sidewalks, parking lots, and landscaping do not constitute qualified rehabilitation costs. Any rehabilitation costs used in the computation of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit are not added to the basis of the property for Iowa income tax purposes if the rehabilitation costs were incurred in a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2000, but prior to January 1, 2001. Any rehabilitation costs incurred in a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2001, are added to the basis of the rehabilitated property for income tax purposes except those rehabilitation costs that are equal to the amount of the computed historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit for the tax year.

Example: The basis of a commercial building in a historic district was $500,000, excluding the value of the land, before the rehabilitation project. During a project to rehabilitate this building, $600,000 in rehabilitation costs were expended to complete the project and $500,000 of those rehabilitation costs were qualified rehabilitation costs which were eligible for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit of $125,000. Therefore, the basis of the building for Iowa income tax purposes was $975,000, since the qualified rehabilitation costs of $125,000, which are equal to the amount of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit for the tax year, are not added to the basis of the rehabilitated property. The basis of the building for federal income tax purposes was $1,100,000. It should be noted that this example does not consider any possible reduced basis for the building for federal income tax purposes due to the rehabilitation investment credit provided in Section 47 of the Internal Revenue Code.

         52.18(4) Completion of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district project and claiming the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit on the Iowa return. After the taxpayer completes an authorized rehabilitation project, the taxpayer must get a certificate of completion of the project from the state historic preservation office of the department of cultural affairs. After verifying the taxpayer’s eligibility for the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit, the state historic preservation office shall issue a historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit certificate, which shall be included with the taxpayer’s income tax return for the tax year in which the rehabilitation project is completed or the year the credit was reserved, whichever is later. For example, if a project was completed in 2008 and the credit was reserved for the state fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, the credit can be claimed on the 2009 calendar year return that is due on April 30, 2010. The tax credit certificate is to include the taxpayer’s name, the taxpayer’s address, the taxpayer’s tax identification number, the address or location of the rehabilitation project, the date the project was completed, the year the tax credit was reserved, and the amount of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit. In addition, the tax credit certificate shall include a place for the name and tax identification number of a transferee and the amount of the tax credit being transferred, and any consideration received in exchange for the tax credit, as provided in subrule 52.18(6). In addition, if the taxpayer is a partnership, limited liability company, estate or trust, where the tax credit is allocated to the owners or beneficiaries of the entity, a list of the owners or beneficiaries and the amount of credit allocated to each owner or beneficiary should be provided with the certificate. The tax credit certificate should be included with the income tax return for the period in which the project was completed.

For tax years ending on or after July 1, 2007, any historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit in excess of the taxpayer’s tax liability is fully refundable. In lieu of claiming the refund, the taxpayer may elect to have the overpayment credited to the tax liability for the following tax year.

         52.18(5) Allocation of historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credits to individual owners of the entity for tax credits reserved for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2012. For tax credits reserved for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2012, the partnership, limited liability company or S corporation may designate the amount of the tax credit to be allocated to each partner, member or shareholder. The credit does not have to be allocated based on the pro rata share of earnings of the partnership, limited liability company or S corporation.

         52.18(6) Transfer of the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit. For tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2003, the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit certificates may be transferred to any person or entity. A tax credit certificate of less than $1,000 shall not be transferable.

            a.                For transfers on or after July 1, 2006, the department of revenue will issue the replacement tax credit certificate to the transferee. Within 90 days of the transfer of the tax credit certificate, the transferee must submit the transferred tax credit certificate to the department of revenue along with a statement containing the transferee’s name, tax identification number and address, the denomination that each replacement tax credit certificate is to carry, the amount of all consideration provided in exchange for the tax credit and the names of recipients of any consideration provided in exchange for the tax credit. If a payment of money was any part of the consideration provided in exchange for the tax credit, the transferee shall list the amount of the payment of money in its statement to the department of revenue. If any part of the consideration provided in exchange for the tax credit included nonmonetary consideration, including but not limited to any promise, representation, performance, discharge of debt or nonmonetary rights or property, the tax credit transferee shall describe the nature of nonmonetary consideration and disclose any value the transferor and transferee assigned to the nonmonetary consideration. The tax credit transferee must indicate on its statement to the department of revenue if no consideration was provided in exchange for the tax credit. If the transferee is a partnership, limited liability company or S corporation, the transferee shall provide a list of the partners, members or shareholders and information on how the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit should be divided among the partners, members or shareholders. The transferee shall also provide the tax identification numbers and addresses of the partners, members or shareholders. The replacement tax credit certificate must contain the same information that was on the original certificate and must have the same expiration date as the original tax credit certificate.

            b.                The transferee may use the amount of the tax credit for any tax period for which the original transferor could have claimed the tax credit. Any consideration received for the transfer of the tax credit shall not be included in Iowa taxable income for individual income, corporation income or franchise tax purposes. Any consideration paid for the transfer of the tax credit shall not be deducted from Iowa taxable income for individual income, corporation income or franchise tax purposes.

            c.                If the historic preservation and cultural and entertainment district tax credit of the transferee exceeds the tax liability shown on the transferee’s return, the tax credit shall be fully refundable.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code chapter 404A as amended by 2013 Iowa Acts, Senate File 436, and Iowa Code section 422.33.

[ ARC 7761B , IAB 5/6/09, effective 6/10/09;    ARC 8589B , IAB 3/10/10, effective 4/14/10;    ARC 9104B , IAB 9/22/10, effective 10/27/10;    ARC 9876B , IAB 11/30/11, effective 1/4/12;    ARC 0398C , IAB 10/17/12, effective 11/21/12;    ARC 1138C , IAB 10/30/13, effective 12/4/13;    ARC 1968C , IAB 4/15/15, effective 5/20/15]